That’s the question I try to ask myself whenever I feel like I’m drifting, going along without intention. And then I make sure to do those things.

It’s a personal question. At different stages of my life, the answer would have been slightly different. But some elements always remain: 1) some form of exercise. These days that mostly means a long walk to wherever it is I am going to write that day. On weekends, I jog, slowly, for between a half hour and an hour. 2) Meditation. Every day. Morning and afternoon for twenty minutes. 3) some form of journaling, usually morning pages, as described in Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way 4) the right music (today, and many days, that’s an album by The Hold Steady.

When I incorporate these things into my day, I am able to ease the doubts, quiet the inner critic and get into the state of flow I need to be at my most creative.

What do you do? Do you even know? Should you start to find out?

Ask yourself: What can I do today to put myself in a peak state to create? And let me know the answer.